New Stadium

UNT's Hospitality Laboratory

From G.E.D. to Ed.D.

Bright Solutions

As the operations manager for Circle R Ranch, a special events venue in Flower Mound, Kimberly McCrary ('05) leads a team of nine event managers who plan more than 300 parties a year. They create everything from chuckwagon company picnics to large convention galas and corporate meetings that include gunfighters, line dancing and rodeos on the ranch's 100 acres. McCrary recently oversaw a party for 3,000 guests.

	Kimberly McCrary, operations manager for Circle R Ranch

In her job, she bridges the gap between the event managers and the wait staff, cooks and other staff members who work on the events, and she also contracts with vendors for event supplies. She learned these skills as a student working at The Club at Gateway Center, UNT's student-operated restaurant that offers three-course gourmet lunches to the public during the fall and spring semesters.

McCrary, who was the banquet supervisor at Texas Motor Speedway before joining Circle R Ranch, says the two semesters she worked in The Club gave her "the background to understand the process of event management."

"At The Club, everyone had different levels of experience in hospitality management," she says. "And that's true in real life as well."

Management training

The Club serves as an educational training laboratory for students enrolled in the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management's hospitality management program. The Club is the laboratory portion of the students' restaurant operations course work.

The skills the students learn in operating The Club apply to jobs industry wide. And UNT graduates are working in all areas of the hospitality management industry, from restaurants, hotels, theme parks and resorts to cruise ships, bed-and-breakfasts and even in food service in schools and hospitals.

Ninety-five percent of hospitality management students are offered management positions when they graduate — thanks to the many networking opportunities with industry professionals, the professional internship they must complete before graduation and their experience working in The Club, says Lea R. Dopson, chair of the hospitality management program.

The students working in The Club "experience the work of line and management positions in a restaurant so that they will be able to effectively manage employees in the hospitality industry when they graduate," Dopson says.

"Our students graduate with critical thinking skills and knowledge of marketing, accounting and managing a diverse work force," she says. "In our industry, you're not just selling a product — you're selling an experience. It's a whole different way of perceiving business."

John Hornsby, The Club's general manager, notes that while many hospitality management students previously worked in casual dining restaurants, The Club is often their first experience in fine dining.

"At The Club, they are immersed in a restaurant environment — both the dining room and the kitchen. They learn how to deal with stressful situations that they will encounter in their jobs after graduation," says Hornsby, who teaches the restaurant operations courses.

The Club opened in 1987 as a restaurant at UNT's College Inn residence hall and moved to its current location at the Gateway Center in fall 2001. Originally serving only three days a week, The Club began serving four days a week in spring 2007 and will expand to five days this spring.

Front and back of the house

Students working at The Club who are taking the first restaurant operations course are required to work the "front of the house" — the dining room. The second course requires that they work the "back of the house" — the kitchen.

"Front of the house" students are instructed by Romesh Abeyratne ('05), formerly banquet manager for Embassy Suites Outdoor World hotel in Grapevine. Attired in black-and-white uniforms, the students receive their table assignments when they arrive for their lab at 9 a.m. They organize the dining area, set the tables and create centerpieces and other decorations that set the tone for the dining experience. They then serve the day's menu beginning at 11:30 a.m. After the last guest leaves, the students unset the tables and discuss what they could have done to improve the service.

"I want our guests to feel that this is a fine dining restaurant, not just a student-run restaurant," Abeyratne says.

"Back of the house" students are directed by The Club's chef lecturer, Watson Baldwin, who creates the menus after the students receive a budget and research recipes that can be prepared within that budget. Wearing white chef uniforms, the students do preparation work for the day's menu beginning at 8 a.m. They present the menu to the "front of the house" students and plate each appetizer, entreé and dessert as the guests arrive.

During the semester, students in both classes are selected for management positions on a given day. The day's manager for "front of the house" operations supervises the other students, even checking each employee's uniform for neatness. An assistant manager and reservations manager review the reservation sheets and assign tables to guests. A service station manager is in charge of the beverage stations, while dining captains oversee the servers.

The day's manager for "back of the house" operations verifies all guests' selections and orders all of the food and supplies based on the number of reservations. Other managers oversee cooking stations, such as produce preparation, and the dishwashing station. All students work on a management team at least three times a semester.

Attention to detail

		Angela Lee, assistant to the private event director at Timarron Country Club

Angela Lee ('08), who received her degree in August, remembers walking the hallways of the Gateway Center to practice carrying trays.

"I had never worked as a waitress before. I learned from students who had more experience than I did, and I learned attention to detail," says Lee, now the assistant to the private event director at Timarron Country Club in Southlake, which features a golf course and numerous events.

	Kristin Burke, private event director at Gleneagles Country Club

Kristin Burke ('01) handles large budgets and interacts with numerous vendors as the private event director at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano. She organizes weddings, luncheons and dinners for golf tournaments and other events.

Before an event begins, she examines each table in the dining room, noting placement of silverware, china, napkins and centerpieces. She says she learned this at The Club. She remembers J.T. Whitaker, longtime "front of the house" instructor who retired in 2006, being "a stickler for detail."

"He used to call out, 'Manager!' when something went wrong," she says.

Abeyratne says the dining room managers are expected to correct fellow students who are carrying the trays on the wrong hand or serving from the right instead of the left.

Kitchen managers, meanwhile, point out students who are incorrectly using knives or other kitchen equipment, or not preparing the food properly.

		Aaron Fisk, 'front of the house' manager for T.G.I. Friday's

Aaron Fisk ('05) says the kitchen experience he received as a student helped him become a better "front of the house" manager for T.G.I. Friday's.

"I understand the needs of the kitchen employees, which is important because 80 percent of the success of the business is in the food," he says.

Future careers

Students working in The Club also are excited about the experience they're receiving for their future careers.

"These classes will prepare me for what I want to do — more than any other class at UNT," says sophomore Rachel Phair, who wants to work her way up to a hotel general management position after working first in hotel fine dining.

"I plan to get into event management, but it helps to have knowledge of each role in hospitality management," senior Katie Arms says. "I have learned what goes into the planning of a luncheon and how to multitask and remember all the details."

After her experience as an undergraduate working in The Club, McCrary now is enrolled in the UNT master's degree program in hospitality management so she can someday teach "front of the house" students just as Whitaker, her mentor, did.

"He always pushed us to be better students and individuals for the community," she says.

Fisk says he learned one more piece of valuable advice at The Club from Whitaker — keep smiling.

"I want every Friday's guest to be treated like a VIP and to leave happy," he says.